CSU, Poudre School District announce delayed Thursday start due to snow, icy road conditions

Lingering ice and snow is prompting Colorado State University, Front Range Community College, Poudre School District and Thompson School District to delay their start times Thursday morning.

Colorado State University will not start operations Thursday until 10 a.m. at all Larimer County campuses due to a storm in Northern Colorado that has made roads difficult for travel.

CSU announced the move via news release around 9 p.m. Wednesday, saying "the decision was based on information from weather forecasts through mid-morning Thursday."

Shortly after, Thompson School District also announced a two-hour delayed start for all schools and district activities.

Poudre School District then announced its two-hour late start about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, citing poor road conditions.

Front Range Community College announced its delayed start jut before 1:20 a.m. Thursday.

Front Range Community College campuses on delayed start

Front Range Community College's campuses will all open at 10 a.m., the school announced early Thursday morning.

On-campus classes scheduled to start prior to10 a.m. are canceled, with the exception of those that would have 45 minutes or more class time remaining after 10 a.m. Those classes will start at 10 a.m.

Classes scheduled to start at 10 a.m. or later will continue as normal.

Remote classes will not be impacted by the late start and will continue on their regular schedules.

CSU to open at 10 a.m.

CSU's delayed start applies to "all in-person, hybrid, remote classes, labs, events, work activities and meetings scheduled to begin before 10 a.m."

According to CSU, university facilities crews will work overnight into Thursday to make roads and other campus areas like parking lots and sidewalks safe for students, staff and faculty once operations resume.

CSU advised those traveling to campus to remain careful even with the late start, noting that icy patches could remain.

The snowstorm hasn't dumped heavy amounts of snow into the Fort Collins area, but the humidity and low temperatures have made roads in the area difficult to drive. As of 9:20 p.m. Wednesday, the city remained on accident alert, per Fort Collins Police Services.

More CSU closure information, including further faculty and staff information and information for essential employees can be found at safety.colostate.edu.

Poudre School District late start

In PSD, all schools will start two hours late, and all buses will run two hours late. In its email to parents, PSD warned that road conditions might impact buses' travel times and students might have to wait longer at their stops.

Breakfast will not be served.

Morning early childhood classes are canceled. Afternoon sessions operate as normal. Full-day sessions will operate on a two-hour delay.

AlphaBEST will not offer before-school care but will offer after-school care.

Schools will dismiss at normal times, and afternoon buses will operate on normal times.

Thompson School District late start

Thompson School District said in a news release that "families and staff should add two hours to the start of the school day, including adding two hours to morning bus pick-up times, morning programs and school start times at every level," though schools will still end at their normal times.

Wednesday's story: 'It's extremely slick': Weather closures and delays include CSU, K-12 schools

The forecast

According to the National Weather Service, Thursday's forecast for Fort Collins calls for patchy fog before 9 a.m., with partly cloudy skies turning to sunny skies. The high is expected to be near 33 degrees. Thursday night's low is forecast to be 20 degrees.

On Friday, there's a 40% chance of snow, mainly after 11 a.m. It should be mostly cloudy with a high near 40 degrees and some wind gusts around 22 mph. Friday night's low is forecast to be 15 degrees.

Conditions should warm up into the 40s and 50s over the weekend, according to the forecast.

Chris Abshire is the sports and stats content coach at the Coloradoan. Contact him at ChrisAbshire@coloradoan.com.

Rebecca Powell is the content strategist for the Coloradoan. Contact her at RebeccaPowell@coloradoan.com.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: CSU, PSD Thompson School District announce delayed start for ice, snow